As a creative writer and children’s picture book author living through the infancy of the ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Mid journey and who-knows-where-AI-will-take-us-next era, the future of storytelling has, quite literally, yet to be written. And while much of how things will play out is still unknown, there is one thing that is already a guaranteed certainty – artificial intelligence will play an increasingly significant role in every kind of storytelling going forward.

From movie and television studios to record companies to publishers across the globe, every creative industry is experiencing a disruptive paradigm shift. Not only in understanding how best to utilize AI, but also, trying to predict where things will go next…and who will be leading the charge in their respective categories.

When I first met the leadership team at Wendy, I have to admit that I didn’t really know what to expect. We had been made aware of each other through a series of events that would take far too long to explain, but when I was approached about meeting with Lance, Kate and Thomas to discuss potential involvement with an AI-enabled storytelling app, I was cautiously intrigued.

As someone whose livelihood depends upon writing and concept ideation, I am fiercely protective of my industry and have very real concerns about what earning a living will look like for my peers and I in the emerging AI landscape. As traditionally defined creative jobs are fewer and more far between than they were a decade ago, writers, illustrators and artists of all kinds are looking for new ways to bring their creativity and storytelling to an ever-changing landscape – regardless of the medium.

Within the first ten minutes of meeting with the team at Wendy, they described their mission to me like this: “We want to be the company that brings kids back to reading by using our own proprietary digital content and AI to help children create characters and stories in a dynamically interactive way.” Needless to say, I was immediately captivated by the company’s “why” and excited to hear more.

The moment from our conversation that hit me like a lightning bolt, though, was when they said, “We know an AI storytelling platform like this is going to happen at some point in the very near future. It’s inevitable. And we want to be the first company to do it, the company that does it best…and we want to build it ethically, in collaboration with writers, artists and influencers.” 

And that’s when I fully understood THE PROMISE OF WENDY.

There’s a quote I love, attributed to Pablo Picasso, that says, “The creative adult is the child who survived.” I, myself, am someone who fought to stay creative as I grew up. Having been born and raised in a small farming town in rural USA, wanting to be a writer wasn’t exactly the coolest thing a kid like me could announce to the world, nor did I have an abundance of access to resources that would help me fulfill my dream. All things considered and stacked against me growing up, I am incredibly lucky that the path that ultimately led me to authoring children’s books presented itself. But not all kids are quite as fortunate.

It’s a well-known fact that children have the most creative brains on the planet and, unfortunately, as they grow older and peer pressure starts to kick in, creativity doesn’t always come along for the ride. I’ve met far too many young people that had a passion for art, writing, music, etc., yet gave up what they loved to do because someone teased or made fun of them for their passion for being creative. As an author, one of my core missions is to help kids stay creative as they get older…because fighting to stay creative as I grew up, regardless of any teasing or bullying I may have experienced, is exactly why I now get to be an author.

THE PROMISE OF WENDY is, first and foremost, for children. In addition to the platform being a more impactful and educational alternative to the countless gaming apps they currently spend hours upon hours interacting with, Wendy offers an outlet for kids to be their most creative and curious selves in the best way possible.

To be able to create characters, build worlds and influence narrative choices that all culminate in rich and detailed stories will put kids in the driver’s seat – helping to create a deep sense of authorship and accomplishment in the hearts and minds of countless youngsters. And the more that kids understand their choices have the power to make a difference, the better the world will ultimately be for having set them up with the confidence to believe their creativity matters and is worth pursuing into adulthood.

THE PROMISE OF WENDY for parents is knowing that their children are interacting with a safe and fun digital platform, whose aim it is to engage and ignite a child’s passion for reading and storytelling. As a dad of three children who are now all teenagers, I would have loved to have had a platform like Wendy when they were first reading and discovering all things digital. Having seen how proud and inspired the act of creating has made them over the years, I know Wendy would have brought a unique goodness to their impressionable minds, while helping to foster their sense of wonder – not to mention generating a lot of amazing stories we’d still be enjoying to this day.

THE PROMISE OF WENDY for writers, artists and illustrators is the unlimited potential to keep doing what they love to do, through a revolutionary storytelling platform that fairly compensates creators for their ideas. With the traditional publishing landscape having gone through dramatic shifts in recent years, the opportunities for professional creatives to break into the industry, much less continue to earn a living from it, has become increasingly untraditional. Wendy has the potential to compliment and even greatly enhance the publishing industry, in ways we can’t yet imagine, while offering brand-new opportunities to written and visual creators who truly know what it takes to tell a great story. 

As it is with artificial intelligence, the story of Wendy is just starting to be written. But one thing has been certain to me from the moment I first learned about the company. The work the leadership team and their creative partners are doing to build the place that “brings kids back to reading” has the power to do far much more than that. 

I truly believe that, through the work of countless dreamers and make believers, Wendy promises to be a place that fosters the next generation of world-class storytellers. A platform that has the potential to become one of the largest creative companies on the planet. A community that builds connections, fosters collaboration and generates a buzz that kids and creatives will be clamoring to be a part of.

And that’s a promise I can get behind.